Swingin' Utters

8 p.m. Wednesday, September 1. The Firebird, 2706 Olive Street.

It must be kind of awkward being in the Swingin' Utters. While the group has been functioning since 1987, its biggest claim to fame is bassist Spike Slawson. He joined the Bay Area-based, Irish-folk-influenced punk band in 2000, and moonlights as the frontman for the mega-popular punk-rock cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes — a group that's received considerably more press (and sold considerably more records) than the Utters has. Not that we're privy to Slawson and the rest of the band's royalty statements, but we assume there are days where he eats sushi while the rest of the band — original members Johnny Bonnel (vocals), Darius Koski (guitar), Greg McEntee (drums) and new guitarist Jack Dalrymple (ex-One Man Army/Dead To Me) — are munching down on PB&J in the back of the van. The band is touring in support of its new, three-song EP, the more-punk, less-folk Brand New Lungs.